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The Stimulus Bill – Giving To Republicans

I’m curious to know which Republicans, specifically, said they will vote for the bill with more tax cuts added — like the ones they took out mass transit money for. I’d also like to know which Republicans, specifically, are now promising to vote for the bill with family planning funds removed.
The Republicans say they are being left out of the negotiations — yet more and more real stimulus is disappearing, and more and more useless Republican-style gimmicks are being added.
Who are they negotiating with, that they are giving more and more away to? If it is buying votes they need, that’s OK I guess. If it isn’t, I’d like to know more about this interesting strategy.
Or, on the other hand, if Republicans say they aren’t going to vote for the bill, will they put mass transit and family planning back in?

2 thoughts on “The Stimulus Bill – Giving To Republicans”

I just emailed my CMan to vote no on the stimulus. Feel free to load it up. The feds have already borrowed, $90,000 per household and spent it. California has borrowed $30,000 per household and spent it.
– Cut spending to match taxes
– Cut cap gains and Corporate tax to the EU level to increase revenues to the Feds
Until that happens, Dems will be going to school on econ 101. You are living in a complete fantasy.
What is the plan in CA in 100 hours? Pitiful that CA is ripping off Mississippi and Kansas.
“All is not totally bleak. House Democrats’ version of President Barack Obama’s $825 billion stimulus includes $10 billion in immediate relief to California, in Medicaid payments for the poor and education aid. That would lop off a quarter of California’s $40 billion deficit. It pays to have friends, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in high places.
But $10 billion won’t necessarily translate into fewer cuts or taxes. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget included $10 billion in phantom
solutions: an improbable $5 billion in borrowing against future lottery proceeds and $5 billion in money shifting that’s probably unconstitutional. ”
San Jose Mercury

NY Times today:
“WASHINGTON — The economic stimulus plan that Congress has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the nation’s school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education’s current budget.
The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.
Critics and supporters alike said that by its sheer scope, the measure could profoundly change the federal government’s role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government.
Responding in part to a plea from Democratic governors earlier this month, Congress allocated $79 billion to help states facing large fiscal shortfalls maintain government services, and especially to avoid cuts to education programs, from pre-kindergarten through higher education.
Obama administration officials, teachers unions and associations representing school boards, colleges and other institutions in American education said the aid would bring crucial financial relief to the nation’s 15,000 school districts and to thousands of campuses otherwise threatened with severe cutbacks.
“This is going to avert literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.”
I love their metaphor. The money will shower down upon us….almost like manna. So it is a blatant, in-your-face political payoff porker.